saltyfishguy

probably saturday until about 6ish and sorry about the kind of slap that going to be bestowed upon my stupid person, obviously it was offensive, not my intention

Devils950003

I was thinking of starting a thread like this, but since one already exists, I'll add to it.

I had a 2005 Electric Blue Pearl PT Cruiser GT, w/the high-output turbo motor (2.4L, 220 HP). I made a fair number of mods to it right off the bat (all appearance): a scooped hood, running boards, front and rear Mopar body effects, a billet grille and a rear spoiler (not the handle-style OEM spoiler)...I then had the roof and spoiler painted a metallic black, so it would match the style of the blue pearl finish. I'll post a pic or two of it later...I did think it was sharp-looking at the time.

Unfortunately, I had a lot of stupid quality issues with it, that slowly but surely soured me on the car, though it did boast impressive power and was fun to drive. I had a faulty trunk latch that kept popping, over and over again...basically, after starting the PT I would have to drive quickly to get the car to autolock...if I wasn't quick enough, the latch would pop. Get out. Slam trunk down. Get back in. Mash gas. If trunk autolocks, I'm good; if not, repeat until successful. It took the dealer THREE TRIES to fix it for good. I had other issues: a faulty brake sensor, a rear door handle that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. The final straw was my bumping someone going no faster than 7 or 8 mph...that did over $5k worth of damage to the front end. Once it was fixed I couldn't get rid of it fast enough...I traded it in for a new 2007 Ford Escape, XLT V6. My wife drives it now.

Anyway, if I'm comparing the SS to the PT GT fairly:

Exterior: I like the SS better, in that it looks more aggressive, ballsier..the PT has a much softer appearance, though once modded I thought mine looked pretty aggressive. I did like many things about my GT quite a bit, and was actually a little sad to see it go. The GTs were quite sharp. I like that the SSes look a good bit different that their HHR counterparts. The GTs were nice, but they didn't look THAT much different than lower trim levels.

Interior: I love the two-tone (red and black, with touches of silver) look of the HHR, and the seats are awesome, even if they're cloth. I'd give the GT's dash a slight nod, and the HHR definitely has the better center console. Overall, even though the PT boasted heated leather seats, the more colorful HHR's interior is clearly more fun.

Performance (neither car had performance mods): Gotta give the HHR a slight nod. The GT was a blast though. HHR seems to have just a little more oomph, though it's been over two years since I drove the GT.

If, on a scale of 1-10, my GT experience (minus the quality nonsense) was about a 7.5, I'd say my HHR SS experience is closer to a 9. But I'm definitely not an anti-PT guy...it was a great car in a lot of ways, and I'm glad I got to enjoy it when it wasn't pissing me off.

Neznokca

the day after i got my HHR Panel i had it parked out front of my work... and a regular customer of ours walks in... she looks strait at me and says " is that your part time cruiser out front?"
i was un aware at this point of the common mistaking of HHR's for PT's... but i was appauled...

i quickly replied "that aint no pt cruiser sweetheart... that bowtie on the front means its cruisin full time"

thorn11166

lmfao!!!

Sandmanse7en

How dare my fellow HHR enthusiasts would compare there taste of heaven to an ugly precursor to what is so wonderful. When someone makes the observation that it is like a PT cruiser, I proceed to punch them in the FACE!!!!

sleeper

That's the Ticket..... ROFLMAO

Devils950003

Punch them in the face? Really? I know you're being sarcastic (otherwise you'd have a whole of assault charges to answer for), but please.

Honestly, I don't get the whole "I love this one so I gotta hate the other one" vibe. And, to a certain extent, I can understand how a non-enthusiast can confuse the two. Let's face it...quite sadly (I think), for most people a car is nothing more than an implement to get from one point to another. They don't care if their cars get dirty, messy, scratched, dinged...so I can't really expect that type of owner to be aware enough not to confuse HHRs with PTs.

And comparisons between the two are inevitable. Same designer, similar shape, similar demographic buying them. I think the HHR is aging better (the PT having been around longer might have something to do with that). The PTs are starting to look dated to me. When Chrysler made interior and exterior changes in '06 I thought they ruined the PT...if my original PT had been more reliable and Chrysler hadn't messed up I might have considered buying another one, but once I saw the '06 changes, the PT was wrecked for me. '05 is the last model year worth talking about as far as PTs go, IMO.

Hell, I remember being on the PT forums, and several members started blasting this new PT-wannabe that was coming out from Chevrolet. It's all about perception. Like I said, I've owned both and I definitely like my HHR more. But I'm not going hate on the other one, just because.

I went through this crap when I was a New Beetle owner...for some reason we had this whole stupid rivalry with Golf owners, many of whom didn't think of New Beetles as "real VWs". Never mind that the Golfs and NBs were pretty much identical cars (underneath) with different hats. I went to a GTG years ago and wound up being the only NB there...the Golf owners barely gave me the time of day. The Golf ain't my thing, but if the situation were reversed, and one or two Golfs showed up to a GTG of mostly NBs, I would still take the time to talk to the owners and check out their rides.

87silver

To add to that, I think that there should be a retro car club that includes such greats as HHRs, SSRs, PTs, Prowlers, New Beetles, retro Mustangs, retro Camaros, retro Challengers, etc.

There are many of us who enjoy the combination of automotive nostalgia and modern technology.

I used to belong to a group entitled, Lincolns vs Cadillacs when I owned my CTS. It was actually informative to exchange ideas between each owner's favorite vehicles that may be different, but still shared a common theme.